


albert vs art functions

by kosmokuns



Category: Newsies - All Media Types
Genre: Deaf David Jacobs, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Married Couple, Modern Era, Sickfic, Vomiting, al and race run an lgbt charity, it happens once and isn’t graphic, ok that’s it, rich socialites, what a surprise, wow back here again
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-06
Updated: 2020-05-06
Packaged: 2021-03-03 00:07:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,402
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24045649
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kosmokuns/pseuds/kosmokuns
Summary: Race thrived in environments like this where he could chat and flirt endlessly to get money to change hands. Albert just liked to look at the art.or;rich successful socialite new york husbands antonio and albert hold a charity art auction to raise money for the lgbt centre they run and albert gets ill.
Relationships: Albert DaSilva/Racetrack Higgins
Comments: 4
Kudos: 21





	albert vs art functions

“Albert! Where did you put my cufflinks?” Shouted Race from their bedroom. He was standing in front of their mirror, tugging cuffs of his suit jacket as they fell loosely apart. His hair was carefully styled out of his eyes, and he had left two of the buttons on his white shirt undone at the top to flash his tanned chest. After he had thrown on his jacket, he had realised that he could not find his favourite cufflinks – the ones that Jack had given him as a wedding gift. They were circular, with an emerald gem set into the middle the same colour of Albert’s eyes and on the back, he had had engraved the date of their wedding. He fucking _treasured_ them, and he could not find them.

Albert pitched forward over the sink, clutching the sides and dropping his head forward, sweat dripping off his brow,

“I think they’re in the second drawer of our dresser wrapped in a handkerchief, darling,” He said, taking a deep breath. He had never realised seeing stars could be literal until this moment, white specks were fluttering around in his vision, blurring the view of himself in the mirror. He was dressed up already, the navy suit he was wearing cooling the fierce red of his hair and a plain charcoal shirt was pressed to his skin, surely soaking up the tidal wave of sweat coming out of his back and armpits. He heard Race make a happy noise,

“Found them!” He called, “You ready, Al?” He trotted out of their bedroom. Between them, Race was definitely more excited than he was for tonight. It was a charity auction of some local artists’, including Jack’s, artwork for the charity they ran together. They’d had successful careers with Race being an attorney for a number of high profile hospitals and Albert being an head analyst for a political thinktank and writing a number of best selling books on political theories, so they’d donated large sums of money to the LGBT center in New York and taken it over a few years ago. It felt like they had completed the cycle, both of them having met at the same time working as volunteers. Race, however, was much better at the convincing-richer-than-them-people to give up thousands of dollars for charity than Albert was. And today, he was feeling particularly rough.

“Yeah, I’m coming,” He groaned and pushed himself off the sink, teetering forward as he steadied himself with two arms out to the side, “Okay,” He said to his reflection, “Let’s do this.”

Leaning on the wall opposite him, Race whistled appreciatively as Albert came out of the bathroom and he smiled,

“I married right for sure,” Race teased and stepped forward to press a kiss to his lips, smoothing down his lapels as he did so, “You look very handsome.” Albert laughed,

“You look very handsome too, let’s go fleece some rich people.” Race raised an eyebrow at him,

“Love your enthusiasm, babe,” He intertwined their fingers and led them out of their apartment to the taxi waiting on the street for them. Albert tucked himself into Race’s side in the taxi and shut his eyes, inhaling and exhaling slowly in an attempt to get his heart to slow down and sweat to stop pouring off his body. The ride was ten minutes and he managed to get his body under control. Loosely. He still felt awful, but at least Race had not noticed yet. There were paparazzi hanging around outside the gallery, and they posed for a few pictures, knowing they were waiting for the more high-profile guests later. Race tugged on his hand giddily as they made their way inside,

“It looks amazing, Antonio,” Albert said. Race shrugged, but did not manage to keep the wondrous sparkle out of his eyes,

“I tried,” He said,

“Seriously, I couldn’t have done this.”

“That’s why I organise the events,” Race leaned up to steal a kiss, “And you do all the other stuff.”

“How you were a lawyer is beyond me,” Albert replied cheekily, winking down at Race, who squawked and hit his bicep,

“I saved multiple hospitals from multiple very expensive lawsuits thank you very much and did the paperwork by myself.” Albert shook his head, grinning, and took Race’s arm to lead him into the main area of the gallery,

“Sure, babe, sure.” Race scoffed but let it go, swanning into the room with Albert. A collection of people was already milling around, dressed in beautiful flowing dresses that all cost upwards of ten thousand dollars and designer three piece suits you could see at Paris fashion week if you wanted a closer look. Race thrived in environments like this where he could chat and flirt endlessly to get money to change hands. Albert just liked to look at the art.

They quickly spotted Jack with a sparkling water in his hand standing in front of one of his pieces with someone Race knew had a fortune of somewhere near fifty million dollars. Race shot him a thumbs up and dumped Albert onto Katherine to go raise millions of dollars for the community garden Albert had requested. Albert dabbed his forehead with a napkin and tucked it into his jacket pocket, leaning on the bar while his head felt extremely heavy,

“You alright, Albert?” Katherine asked, laying a hand on his shoulder. Katherine and Albert had met when they were both doing their masters at NYU, Albert in politics and Katherine in professional writing, and their friendship group had sprouted from there. It felt like Katherine knew everyone in New York city to Albert, who had only ever had a few friends at a time.

“Just fine,” He replied through gritted teeth, shaking his head and pushing his hair out of his eyes, “How are you?”

“You know, the usual,” She said drily, taking a sip of her champagne, “Pulitzer wants me to donate my money to anything but your charity and quit my job to marry Jack.” Albert nodded,

“Nice to know nothing has changed since we last spoke,” He dropped into a bar stool and sucked in a breath, rubbing his fists into his eyes. He felt Katherine lay a gentle hand on his back,

“Albert? What’s wrong?” She asked, concerned, hand smoothing circles around his spine,

“Nothing, I just need a minute, then we can go talk to some people before I get dragged around with Race.” His head pounded under the light and he shut his eyes to clear his mind. They stood there in silence for a few minutes while Albert collected himself, Katherine’s arm never leaving his back.

Davey caught sight of them at the bar from across the room where he was taking around his parents and sent Katherine a worried expression, noticing Albert was collapsed in the chair,

“Do I need to get Race?” He signed to her and she shook her head,

“Not yet, I think he just needs a minute.” She signed back and Davey nodded, eyes lingering on them as he herded Meyer and Esther away from one piece to another. Albert sniffed then raised his head,

“Okay, let’s go get some money,” He said slipping off the stool and winding an arm over Katherine’s shoulder. She laughed and followed him as he approached his first target that had been assigned for him by Race.

After schmoozing with five people and collecting enough money for Race not to murder him, Albert was flagging. His headache was back in full force and his heart felt like it was going to beat out of his chest. He was sweating under the bright studio lights and it was making him feel disgusting. He wanted to leave, and he had only been here an hour and a half. It was awful. Katherine had ditched him a few investment bankers ago to chat with some of the girls she had recognised from her boarding school days here in the city.

He heard footsteps and spun around from the art he was pretending to admire to see Davey barrelling towards him, face pinched tight.

“You good?” Albert signed, frowning. Davey shook his head and the movement in his vision made him stumble into his arms, panting. Davey caught him and clung to him tightly, helping him get back on his feet,

“Albert, you look like shit,” Davey signed, tilting his head to the side. Albert huffed,

“I’m fine,” He signed back, and Davey rolled his eyes,

“I’m getting Race,” He signed, and then turned around with a flourish, and glided off to find Race. Albert watched him go dismally and leant back on the wall behind him, doubling over onto his knees as a wave of nausea hit him. He clamped his mouth shut and a hand flew to his stomach as his eyes fell shut. He waited a few minutes and the nausea passed, allowing him to stand up again,

“Fuck,” He whispered to himself, straightening his legs and dropping his head back onto the wall, wiping a hand over his face. This event happened once a year, and he had managed to be sick on it. Typical. His immune system was damaged from years of maltreatment and neglect through his childhood, and it was the bane of his life. He pulled his head off the wall strenuously to see Race hurrying towards him with Davey in tow,

“Baby, what’s going on?” He said, worry thick in his voice. Albert opened his mouth to speak, but choked, his eyes widened as they made contact with Race’s and he vomited, sick splattering onto the floor as Race caught onto to what was happening just in time and shoved his head down. He choked and hacked as sick dripped from his lips, Race applying gentle pressure on the back of his head to keep him bent over. He coughed a few more times but nothing more came up, and Race held on to his shoulders as he came upright,

“I think I’m going to pass out,” Albert said hoarsely, head spinning.

“Okay, let’s sit down,” Race replied and guided him down to sit on the floor with his head between his legs. He squatted with him and turned to sign to Davey, “Can you ask Jack to call us a taxi?”

“Of course,” Davey responded and scurried away to find Jack. Race’s attention went back to Albert who was coaching himself through breathing exercises,

“Albert,” He said, and Albert squinted up at him, “Did you feel like this earlier?” Albert bit his lip and nodded, “Okay, well, we’re going to get you home.”

“Tony this is your big night, I’m not ruining it for you,” Albert protested,

“You aren’t ruining it at all, babe,” He said, “I just want you to be okay, I’m sure Jack has conning under control.” He smiled softly as Albert huffed out a laugh and hugged his knees. Moaning, he fell forward and Race steadied him with a hand on his shoulder,

“My head fucking hurts,” He hissed, squeezing his eyes shut. Race made a sympathetic noise and glanced around the room to locate Jack. He was hurrying towards them with his phone in his hand,

“I called a car for you guys,” He said, frowning, “I’m so sorry, Albert, being sick sucks.”

“Yeah it does,” He groaned, holding on tightly to Race’s knee as he fought back another wave of nausea.

“Jack, will you help me get him to the taxi?” Race asked and Jack nodded,

“Driver says he’s outside, ready to move Al?”

“I want to die,”

“Okay, let’s get up,” Race said, rolling his eyes, taking one arm as Jack took the other and heaving Albert to his feet. They staggered out to the former and onto the pavement where a sleek black cat was idling. Jack opened the door and Race set Albert down on the seat. He clipped in the seatbelt and dodged around to sit on the other side, then gave their address to the driver. Albert lolled toward Race as the car took violent turns and made soft mewling noises. As they pulled onto their road, Race dabbed the sweat of Albert’s brow,

“Almost there,” He said quietly and Albert glared at him,

“I need some painkillers and my bed,” He said, tangling his fingers with Race’s,

“I think I can do that for you,” Race replied. They had a never-ending supply of painkillers due to Albert’s frequent sickness of every sort and strength. Race had learned a lot about being a nurse in the seventeen years of their relationship.

Eventually the driver pulled up outside of their apartment building and held open the door to allow Race to pull Albert out of the car. They made it to the lift, Race panting under the strain of hauling Albert, a man much larger than him, around.

“I’m so ready for that bed,” He said and Albert laughed,

“Yup,” He replied, rubbing his hands down his face.

The lift dinged and the doors slid open, allowing Albert and Race to make their way down the hallway to their apartment. Race unlocked it and promptly deposited Albert in their bedroom, before leaving to get the painkillers.

Looking at the pictures of them on his bedside table, a sentimental smile crept onto his face. There were many of them throughout the years, but the one of them on their wedding day stood proudly in the middle like the ring on Albert’s finger. Race liked to decorate his hands with all sorts of rings and bracelets but Albert stuck to just his wedding band and a Celine bracelet Race had given him as a ten year anniversary present. They’d married what might be considered young nowadays, but it was the best decision Albert ever made.

“Getting all soppy, now?” Race said from their doorway and shook the paracetamol at him. Albert rolled over, having stripped to his undershirt and underwear,

“Give them to me,” He held out his hands like a begging child. Race laughed and put two in his hands and a glass of water. Albert downed the pills quickly and pulled him down on top of him, “Don’t move until I fall asleep,” He said. Race giggled,

“Love you,” He pressed a kiss to the top of Albert’s head,

“Love you too,” He mumbled, arms tightening around his waist.

**Author's Note:**

> i’m back with more putting albert in pain bc what else would i do with him. i hope u enjoyed this and leave me a comment if u did!! stay inside!!


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